Creation of ground-breaking database to enhance maternal care in Nigeria

A Coventry University researcher has been part of a first-of-its-kind project to establish an electronic healthcare database to improve maternity care and reduce deaths of mothers and babies in low and middle-income countries.

The Maternal and Perinatal Database for Quality, Equity and Dignity (MPD-4-QED) Programme in Nigeria has been established by the World Health Organisation, in collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), and was funded by MSD for Mothers.

Dr Abiodun Adanikin, an assistant professor of maternal and perinatal epidemiology at Coventry University’s Research Centre for Healthcare and Communities, worked with colleagues to create the database. The database serves as a monitoring tool for maternal and early neonatal care and outcomes and is the first of its kind in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Dr Adanikin said: “The challenge of quality data often plagues LMICs, preventing performance tracking and progress monitoring in maternity care. While this database hasn’t been easy to accomplish, now we have a system which collects quality data. With periodic analysis, we can monitor the quality of maternity care and outcomes for women and babies and learn about what works and what can be improved. In addition, the data can be used for research purposes.

What’s great about this database is that it can be replicated in other low- and middle-income countries that face the similar challenges of inequalities in maternity care outcomes as Nigeria. Many thanks to the outstanding teams and colleagues who collaborated on this project. Overall, the MPD-4-QED programme demonstrates substantial potential for tracking essential maternal, newborn and child health metrics in Nigeria – and potentially in other LMICs – rather than relying solely on estimates.”

Dr Adanikin recently shared the team’s experience and lessons learned in establishing the database in a publication in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Find out more about the Research Centre for Healthcare and Communities.